


Five Years At A Time

by lieano



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Character Study, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up, Leo Week 2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieano/pseuds/lieano
Summary: "What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?"
Relationships: Foleo | Forrest & Leon | Leo, Leon | Leo/Zero | Niles
Comments: 11
Kudos: 18
Collections: Leo Week 2020





	1. In The Garden

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @leoleonwuv aka Leo Week 2020! I'm just gonna do a series of connected character studies, checking in on Leo in 5 year intervals of his life. I'm gonna make up the ages when events happen as we go and it might go a little against fanon but hopefully not much. It's also been 5ever (pun intended) since I wrote any fates so YEAH, I HOPE IT'S GOOD, ENJOI THE BOI

_“It’s such wonderful news! A little princess! How glorious for our country! I suppose this means you are no longer the baby, Prince Leo. You’re a big brother now! Aren’t you excited?”_

Leo fiddles with a leaf, the words of his nursemaid echoing in his mind like a nursery rhyme. Repetitive and simple. Without meaning too, Leo clenches his fist. The leaf crumbles in his hand. 

_“Would you like to hold the baby, Prince Leo? If you sit right there I can put her in your arms.”_

Leo’s fingers flare out to reveal the organic dust that was once a leaf. He grimaces. He cannot be trusted with a life as fragile as that of a baby. He will drop her. Hurt her. He’s sure of it. He has to stay away from her. He cannot be trusted, can’t they see that? 

_“She has that royal Nohrian nose. Just like you Leo. You royal children look so much alike. It’s darling. Such lovely babies. Glory to Nohr.”_

Typically Leo is a very neat child. He keeps his hands clean, maintains the dirt under his nails often. But he digs them into the ground now, thinking about how much of a menace he is. He may look like a flowering rosebud child, but he is a thorny bush underneath it all. Dangerous. He has to harden his image, ensure that others stay away from him. He will not be held responsible for the injury of any of his siblings, least of all his new baby sister. 

Leo thinks all this, but not in so many words. He is five years old. He doesn’t understand a lot of his own emotions. He doesn’t understand that he is jealous of his little sister already taking attention away from him. He doesn’t understand that he is nervous about the burden placed on him just because of the family he was born into. He doesn’t understand that he ran to the greenhouse to hide from these feelings. What he does understand is that the plants are his friends. They know him. They can feel him. They can comfort him. 

He stands from the ground and brushes his hands on his pants. Perhaps he will get in trouble later. He doesn’t care. He approaches a section of the greenhouse that he has been growing, under the tutelage of the palace groundskeeper. Three little wire cages with vines crawling in and around the steal stand in a row in a plot of dirt. The vines are young and yet they are already climbing high. They look as though they are breaking free from their cage, twirling around the wire in whimsical curls. Leo reaches out a hand, but stops halfway to the vine. A little leaf sits there, bright green and full of life. He thinks about the leaf he crushed a second ago and lowers his hand to his hips. The voice of his maid raises to the forefront of his mind again. A different mantra, one she was repeating long before the new princess came along and her interests shifted away from him. 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?”_

“I want to be a gardner,” Leo says out loud, as if the question were asked of him here and now. As if someone is listening. As if it matters. 

He doesn’t understand that what it means is that he wants to be kind and gentle. He wants to be good for the people he loves and the people who need him. He wants to be a doting brother. He will always be prickly like a thorn, but he might, with time, learn to nurture his flowers as well.


	2. In The Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for day 2 was Dark Arts! (Day 1 was thorns, I forgot to put that in the notes)  
> Follow @leoleonwuv on twitter for more leo week goodness!!

_Five years later…_

The stack of books is taller than the little boy carrying them. The old bookkeeper who manages the royal collections hovers nearby, afraid that the little prince is going to crush himself with all of his desired study material. But Leo takes no notice of the man and expertly weaves his way between the benches and tables. He doesn’t need to see them to know where they are. He’s been here a dozen times before, carrying more and more books each time. Every time he reads a new book, it opens a new doorway, a new path that he must also explore. He has to collect as many books as possible when he visits the library, lest he lose any of the breadcrumb trails he's left for himself. 

Dust flies up around him as he lowers one of the biggest tomes from his stack to be open in front of him. There are ribbon bookmarks slotted into places where Leo found the most interesting topics. He opens up two more smaller books around the giant tome and proceeds to read all three books at once, using his fingers as markers when he jumps between them. He studies which plants work better in poisons, intimidation techniques, and a history of dark magic tomes. Where they were created and where they could be now. 

After a while, Leo finds himself abandoning the other subjects and diving headlong into the history of spell books. The other threads were enticing, but nothing is more exciting to a ten year old than the idea of creating something from nothing all with a casually uttered sentence and a flick of the wrist. He leans into the books, his eyes wide, his little pale fingers gripping the edge of the desk. 

Poisons would take a while to grow and cultivate and they required a level of sneakiness that he, as a prince, would perhaps never be afforded. Interrogation might come to him some day, but he still has chubby cheeks and short legs and could scarcely intimidate a fly. But the magic in a dark tome is massive. Immediate. Powerful. A sketch of a mage holding a book aloft while fire blasts from his fingertips is drawn on the bottom of one page. His cape swirls out behind him. He is dressed head to toe in black. He looks ferocious, just like Leo's big brother when he trains with a sword. 

All of Leo’s older siblings are trained in combat. They are proficient in swords and axes, but none of them seem well equipped in magic. Leo has always been under the impression that magic is a support class reserved for the servants and nameless soldiers. But looking at the mage on the page in front of him has him questioning everything. Magic can be cool. Leo can be cool if he learns magic. 

Leo twists in his seat and looks behind him at the library beyond. The bookkeeper must have stopped his fretting some time ago and has left Leo to have an unhindered view of his surroundings. He spends so many hours in here, taking the collections for granted, but he rarely looks at what it actually is. A treasure trove. How many of these books contain magic beyond Leo’s wildest dreams? What will he find if he ventures down to the forbidden sections, searching through the magical items? Will he find a good match? 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?”_

That question that haunts him at night now rings through his small head, and he grins something dark and ambitious. “I want to be powerful.”


	3. On The Battlefield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt today was Wardrobe Malfunction. So this is jut a little fun. And I gotta update the tags because NILES IS HERE. Okay, enjoy~

_Five years later…_

When Leo pictured his debut in battle, this was not how he had imagined it. He was supposed to be cool, up on his horse holding Brynhildr aloft, making thorny vines and entire trees sprout around his enemies, devastating and powerful. 

He was not supposed to be pantsless, hiding behind his horse’s flank, protecting his most delicate of areas from flying arrows. At least Niles seems to be having a good time. 

“This is funny to you?” Leo snaps. His face is hot with embarrassment and he’s lost all his cool. 

NIles chokes back another snicker. “Not at all, milord. Just… Curious, did you forget to wear a belt? Into your first battle?” 

Leo thinks he might faint from embarrassment. “I didn't think… With all the armor, I didn’t think it would be necessary…” 

“You’re so intelligent and wise,” Niles says. He leaves that comment hanging in the air for a moment before he adds, “About almost everything, but clothing seems to be your weak point for some reason.” 

There is an earth shattering boom and Leo hunkers lower behind his horse. A great voice raises up above the noise of the collision. A crackling field of electric energy prickles the hair on the back of Leo’s neck. Odin is protecting them from some sort of attack. Leo clenches his fist. 

“I do not have time for this!” Leo grunts. “There’s a battle! My siblings- Xander is relying on me to-” 

A gentle hand falls on Leo’s shoulder and he looks up into one cool blue eye. Leo had taken Niles as a retainer on a whim some years ago. He hadn't given it much more thought beyond the notion that he was strategically making a dangerous person indebted to himself. But Niles has turned out to be so much more than a weapon. He is a calming presence, able to ground Leo in one look. Leo takes a breath through his nose and lets it out between pursed lips. 

“You’re doing fine, milord,” Niles says, his tone deep and steady, all mirth and mockery gone now. “Just wait a few more minutes for help to arrive with a belt, and you can get back into battle.” 

Leo nods. He looks back out to the battlefield and takes another breath. Embarrassment is seldom a fleeting experience, but he will make it through this. He is sturdy like a tree. He will be that way for Xander and for Nohr. 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?”_

Leo is just fifteen. He still gets asked this question even though he would prefer to be grown up already. He is eager to be taken seriously. He thinks, as he ties his pants back around his waist, this time with a length of leather provided to him by some helpful soldier, that if he still has room to grow and there is still time to change who he will be when he ‘grows up’, he wants most of all to be reliable.


	4. In The Nursery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's prompt was 'familial bonds' :) this one is tender. enjoy~

_Five years later…_

The little digits on this creature are so small and chubby they can hardly be called fingers. They grasp at open air, wanting. They don’t know what they want, but they want something. To find purchase. To find a grounding force to latch onto. Leo grips the edge of the crib with white knuckles, stunned as he looks into the face of his infant son. 

Leo has never been good with fragile things. He still gardens, but mostly as an exercise in poise and grace. That is to say, he wants to be graceful and is often not. The plants he grows with magic are large and chaotic, overthrowing the natural environments in violent coups whenever he summons them. He puts his clothes on wrong, forgetting belts or skipping buttons. Leaving things inside out. Though he keeps a cool and level head and a cultivated air about him, he often wonders if others think his poor retainers to be overworked, watching over such a troublesome lord. 

When Elise was born, he had been afraid to hold her, to be around her for too long. He thought himself to be hazardous to a baby. That was fifteen years ago and Leo hardly remembers it now, but the feelings still linger. He reaches out with a tentative hand but stops just an inch away, hovering in the air above his son’s tiny, chubby fingers. What if he breaks the baby? Well, he would be breaking so much more, wouldn’t he? His own heart for instance. This fragile little life needs to be protected, even from himself. 

Leo pushes away from the crib and turns on his heel, folding his hands behind his back and clearing his throat defiantly. He will just summon a nurse to tend to the child’s needs. That should be enough. It is how he was cared for after all. It’s not as if King Garon ever stole away into his nursery to rock him to sleep or change his dirty diapers. Probably. Leo didn’t remember being a baby, after all, but it doesn’t sound like something his father would be inclined to do. 

He is just about sure in his decision when the baby starts to cry. Leo winces. If it were any other baby, maybe he could ignore it. Turn up his nose and stomp away to somewhere more civilized. But this particular cry latches onto his heart. It freezes him in place. He turns back to the crib, despite his best efforts to ignore it. His son needs him. 

Gently, with almost shaking fingers, Leo scoops the bundled babe into his arms. He holds the child tight to his chest, still afraid of dropping him. But the whimpering is more dire than his fears. The child might prick his finger on a thorn, but he would still be nestled in a bed of vines, protected from falling. Leo instinctively starts to shoosh and coo at his son, willing him to temper his emotions. Slowly, bit by bit, the baby’s soft cries turn into gentle whimpering. Leo, daringly, removes a hand from the back of the baby and brushes some of the mop of blonde out of the baby’s squinting eyes. He is captivated by how beautiful his child is. He was born with so much hair, rosey cheeks, and even that royal nose that the Norhrians pride themselves on. A little prince. The whole world in Leo’s arms. 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?”_

Leo is a father now, but he does not yet consider himself grown up. There is still much to learn about in this world. He may never be done growing, he fears. He may never read all the books in the royal library. He may never achieve all of his ambitions. But he knows that no matter what, he will be here for his son. 

With a trembling arm, Leo lifts the baby just a little, still cradling him in the crook of his elbow. He lifts the baby’s head just enough so that he can gently rest their foreheads together. He takes in a deep breath of his child and then exhales slowly. And he whispers, “I want to be here for you, my love. I will be yours, Forrest. Forever.”


	5. In the Kitchen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M LATE, this is for day 5 of Leo Week: Budding Rose. This chapter is Leo/Niles. Fluffy, happy family sweetness. Happy birthday Leo!! check out @leoleonwuv on twitter if you haven't yet!!

_Five years later…_

Leo does not consider himself to be much of a baker, but he does have a way with plants. With his tongue protruding between his teeth, he directs the piping bag in a swirl pattern he is familiar with. He keeps his hand steady and puts his all into focusing, a difficult task when there are two gremlins running and screaming around his feet. But he wants the decoration on top of this one cupcake to look like a perfect rosebud. The rest of them can look like children made them, because they did, but this one will be perfect and Leo’s mind will be at peace with it. 

A small gust of wind brushes against Leo’s ear and he yelps. Only it’s not a gust of wind at all, he realizes, and dismay sinks in. His hands squeeze around the piping bag and icing pours out in a stream, falling down the side of the cupcake gently. The rosebud is ruined. Leo whirls on his assailant, face already hardened for the oncoming scolding. 

He doesn’t get a word in before Niles is laughing at him. Even though Leo is slightly irritated, he melts at the touch of the sound on his heart. It’s warm and smooth. Niles’ laugh is more delicious than anything Leo has baked in the kitchen today. “Whoa, no need to look so mad. I just don’t want you to develop premature frown lines.” One of Niles’ large fingers pokes its way between Leo’s knotted eyebrows. “You’ll ruin your beautiful complexion.” 

Leo dutifully relaxes. It’s not often that Niles asks things of him. Their power dynamic until recently was very skewed, and Leo knows Niles has struggled to overcome that - to truly see Leo as a partner rather than a leader. As a husband, rather than a boss. So even in the little requests, Leo tries to abide. He lets go of his tension which makes his shoulder fall limp. He looks down at the cupcake. It looks less like a budding rose than it does a wilted one now. He suspects that only some of it was the fright and much of it was talent, or lack thereof. 

Leo hasn’t even said anything yet, but Niles looks between him and the cupcake and a wire connects in his brain. “Ah,” he grunts. Just then, a small human rocket collides with his leg and he stumbles back from Leo. Leo pulls his attention away from his sad creation to witness as Niles is attacked on the otherside by the other tiny human living in the house. They each have a leg and grip them like monkeys. They cackle just as menacingly. Leo finds himself laughing a little too, though he stifles it behind a hand. That’s another thing he is working on. Displaying his positive emotions when he is around his family. 

“Want cake!” Nina screeches, her words barely intelligible. 

“Yeah!” Forrest agrees, always his sister’s best advocate. “Is it ready yet?” 

“Oh, you know what?” Niles asks the children, acting as if he just thought of something. “I think it is cake time.” The children watch with wide eyes as he leans over to the tray where cupcakes were cooling. There are a dozen and they are not yet iced. He drops a haphazard dollop of icing on two and hands them down to the kids who unlatch themselves and take the treats reverently. 

“Thank you, daddy,” Forrest says for them both. 

“You’re welcome. No go eat that in the dining room, please.” 

They are gone in a blink. Leo lifts an eyebrow as Niles turns back to him, looking proud. “You spoil them,” he says. “They haven’t even had supper yet.” 

“No, but I needed them gone,” Niles says. His voice is low. It vibrates up Leo’s body, making his fingers tingle with delight. 

Even though he suspects he knows the answer, Leo still asks, “Why?” 

“So that I can do this,” Niles says. Gently, slowly, he redirects Leo to face the counter and leans into his back. His body presses full against Leo’s, and Leo can feel him breathing just below his shoulder blades. Niles’ hands trace down his arms from his elbows, his fingers feather light as they find their way, tenderly, down to Leo’s hands. He lays each finger perfectly over Leo’s, though his hands are so much larger. They are rough, familiar. As Leo is adapting to the closeness and the heat it has brought, Niles starts to move his hands. 

Using Leo like some sort of willing puppet, Niles swipes away the extra frosting from the side of the cupcake. He pickles up the piping bag and directs Leo’s hands as they squeeze the icing in perfect half swirls. His breath ghosts across Leo’s cheek, a sensual version of the surprise he received just minutes ago. When Niles is done, the error is completely gone and in its place, a rose that looks as if it is about to bloom. 

Leo feels something bloom within him too, though it is just an additional rose to add to the bouquet that he already holds in his heart. Niles has made so many roses bloom inside him in the years they have been together. Their sweet fragrance and velvet petals choke out even the thorns. 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Prince Leo?”_

As he turns in Niles’ arms to weave his fingers through that soft silvery hair and place a tender kiss on those full lips, Leo thinks he has finally cracked the code. Leo wants to be this way for the rest of his life. With his husband, his children, his home. His flowers fully in bloom.


	6. In The City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for day six of @leoleonwuv on twitter is AU! So, something a little different. I've got one more drabble to upload, a little belated present for the birthday boy, so look forward to that! Thank you!!

_505 years later…_

The rhythmic dinging of the elevator as it clicks it way up each floor threatens to knock Leo from his precarious grounding. It’s not that he’s afraid of heights. When he was younger he had a penchant for climbing trees as high as he could. But when the trees are built from steel by hands capable of human error, he still finds he’s a little uneasy. The dinging has been going on for quite a while. One hundred floors is just unnecessary. But he shouldn’t complain, it is the legacy of his family and he should be proud. 

The elevator dings one last time and the doors slide open. Leo steels himself and walks into the corridor. There is only room on the top floor, but you still have to pass the receptionist to get into it. Of course when the one duty today, Laslow, sees Leo, he just smiles and pushes the button without a word. The oak double doors leading into Xander’s office open with not so much as a squeak. Everything in the building is new and sleek and efficient. It is completely safe, despite the tension that sits high on Leo’s shoulders. 

“I have the monthly reports,” Leo says before introductions, laying the stack of papers he had been holding close to his chest, like a lifeline on the entire elevator ride up here, on Xander’s desk. “Production is up, but we need to talk about the Cheve account.” 

Xander isn’t behind his desk or standing at the wall of windows that overlook the city below like he does sometimes. He is standing at the dry bar that takes up just a corner of the office. He finishes pouring his glass of scotch and turns to give Leo a bemused look. 

“It’s 5:30, Leo. Why are you still here?” he asks, his tone low and soft. 

Leo keeps his shoulders straight, his hands crossed dutifully on his lower back. “To talk about the Cheve account.” 

Xander laughs. It’s a particular kind of laugh that he reserves only for his siblings. Every time Leo hears it, now included, he is sent back to his boyhood. Playing games in the Nohr Manor, running up and down the halls, giving the servants more hell than they deserved, chasing after Camilla or Elise or Corrin. And Xander, always there to pick them up when they fell and scraped their knee, or lead them to safety when they got lost in a wing of the house they were not familiar with. He dried their tears and fixed their booboos and laughed with them. He was protective and tender and reliable. Leo used to dream about being half as wonderful as his big brother some day. Now that he is an adult, thirty years old to be exact, he thinks the best way to do that is to support his brother’s growing empire. He would be the wind under Xander’s wings. 

But the look Xander gives him now is not one that commands respect and hard work. It commands something much different. “Aren’t you supposed to be leaving on vacation this afternoon?” 

Right on cue, Leo feels a tap on his wrist and startles. It is his smart watch, alerting him of a new notification, and he lifts his arm instinctively. The picture is small and imperfect, even on the high end newest device, but he can make it out well enough. A selfie of Niles, Forrest and Nina sitting in the car just a hundred floors below him in the parking garage. The children have blankets draped across their legs, but they appear to be in high spirits. They are the antithesis of tired. Their smiles reach from ear to ear. A pile of suitcases stacked in the back must be blocking the rearview mirror and Leo frowns, unsure how safe it is for the distance they would be going. He tries to frown, but finds it difficult. They are not on a schedule. The house in the country where they are going to stay for the next week is their second home, they own it. It will be there no matter when they arrive. But that doesn’t seem to matter to his pounding heart. His family is waiting for him. 

“Leo,” comes Xander’s voice from across the room, and Leo lifts himself reluctantly out of the photo to meet his brother’s gaze. Xander looks almost serious, but there is still a twinkle in his pupil. A little glimmer of love that says, ‘You can do no wrong in my eyes’. “Go. Be with your family. I’ll have someone else look at the Cheve account. We’ll be okay.” 

_“What do you want to be when you grow up, Master Leo?”_

Leo has achieved so much in his life. He is successful, powerful, reliable, and blessed. He has good fortune and good health and a little garden that he maintains out in the countryside when he has time off from work. He has become, in many ways, the man he has always grown up hoping he would become. The only thing left for him to do now, in this particular moment, is to relax and enjoy what he had built.


End file.
